can't come down
by Elendraug
Summary: squall and rinoa, aboard the ragnarok. gen. AU.


final fantasy viii. squall & rinoa. probably spoilers through the lunar base. PG-13 for violence. characters belong to squaresoft.

**can't come down**

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**1**

The ship once belonged to Esthar; that much is clear.

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**2**

Artificial gravity helps them regain their balance, but Rinoa immediately loses hers and collapses to the metal floor, spacesuit crumpling too much in some places and not enough in others.

She's heavy; Squall can't lift her.

She's not breathing.

Wrenching off his own helmet, he kneels beside her, shaking her frantically.

"Rinoa." He tugs at the strengthened fabric, undoes clasps in an attempt to free her. "Shit, _shit._ Rinoa. Rinoa, wake up." His voice is pleading, desperate, defeated. After that, after all that, she can't be--

He starts chest compressions, pressing his palms down again, again, again; the pure oxygen will do more to resuscitate her than his own breath would.

She's not breathing.

"Oh god, oh god, what do I... what do I do?" He sits back, shoulders slumped, at a loss.

They're utterly alone.

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**  
3**

She jolts back to consciousness, rolling onto her side and gasping for air, chest heaving. Shocked, relieved, he reaches over and removes the oxygen mask, moves her tangled hair out of her face and away from her mouth and nose.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

Rinoa nods, still unsteady, and seeks him for support.

Squall lets her rest against him and holds her tightly, securely, and blinks furiously at his blurred vision. The words are choked out:

"I'm so glad."

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**4**

They stow the spacesuits as best as they can and cautiously approach the door. It slides open with a soft swishing noise, and they walk forward, footsteps echoing in the confined hallway.

The ship is not well lit. Squall squints in the low light, anxious to know whether the ship is abandoned, because if it's not...

Ahead of them lies a short connecting bridge. So far, it's been utterly silent apart from their own movements; Squall is hesitant to make any sounds.

Just in case.

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**5**

Slowly advancing, they're gaining more confidence. They can do this. They'll find a way to pilot this thing. They'll make it back safely.

They see something crawling forward on the lower level and both nearly scream. Dropping to the floor, they press themselves against the ground, aching to stay out of sight.

"What the fuck _is_ that?" Squall mouths, hoping Rinoa can lipread.

She shakes her head, eyes wide.

The door ahead of them is locked; the stairs are their only option.

Urging Rinoa to walk with her back to his, Squall readies his gunblade.

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6**

It has five limbs, and tendrils dangling from its head; it rushes at them instantly. It grabs Rinoa, digging its claws into her shoulder and snapping viciously at her face, tearing a strip of skin from her neck. She shrieks in pain, and Squall shrieks in terror, and he hacks away at the fucking thing, slicing and firing and cutting and there's foul, stinking pus that drips everywhere, and then it electrocutes him.

Stunned, Squall can't think, can't move, and Rinoa winces and pulls him by the collar of his jacket, tearing out clumps of fur as she drags him beneath the overhang of the staircase. Sobbing, saline stinging as it slides along open wounds, she tries to call upon a GF for help, for healing, for anything.

It's impossible to concentrate.

The _thing_ leans in and regards her with more intelligence than she expected. Her voice is hoarse from the yelling; Squall lies immobile by her side.

She takes his abandoned weapon and drives the blade through the monster's face.

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**7**

Craving safety, they crouch beneath the stairs, huddled together and crying, breath hitching. Squall's unable to move easily, Rinoa's bleeding, and they're trapped, outnumbered, and absolutely at a disadvantage.

The monster's punctured head oozes fluid onto the floor, and it's enough to make them retch. They just want to go home, they just want it to be over, but--

Another monster thuds its way into the room, and at its presence, the first somehow, _inexplicably_ rises to its feet, forehead still leaking, features still disfigured, and is alive again.

Rinoa stares in horror, and Squall closes his eyes and presses his face to her shoulder. He doesn't want to see it anymore.

Only then does Rinoa notice that they have matching uniforms.

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**8**

The ship clearly no longer belongs to Esthar.

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_"They looked like monsters to you?"_


End file.
